Rock Painting - Most Creative Activity for Kids

Painting on stones or stone painting or also called as rock painting can be one of the most creative activity ever. Stones and rocks come in different size and shapes and we get to explore our minds into how creative we can be with them and come up with unique stone painting designs. Rock Painting allows us the pleasure to be creative and also to decorate our homes in a personalized manner. A painted stone could be used as a corner piece or we can use them for decorating gardens. Painted stones can also be gifted to near and dear ones, thus it could be a perfect personalized gift item for special occasion. Wonder how proud a grand-mom would feel if she receives a rock painting as a gift, painted and decorated by her own grand-child. You could also gift it to dad or moms who may use them as paperweights in their office and always feel proud when they look at them. Thus rock painting is one of the most easy and interesting DIY projects for kids. The actual pleasure for the kids begins right from searching for the perfect stone to painting it with the selected design.

Though you could get these stones  or rocks nowadays at various home-decor stores; the fun is in finding the perfect stone while you visit a river side or a sea shore. Most important thing for stone painting is to find the perfect stone, which can be used to paint. Tip is to look for round, flat and smooth stone which can allow us to be more creative. When certain idea comes to our mind for stone painting art, we need to look out for stones which may help us shape and colour those ideas, for instance if you wish to stone paint a cat, then you need to look out for a stone which can help you shape up that idea or when we wish to make a  Ladybug Rock Painting then we use a flat and circular stone.  I am into habit of collecting stones whenever I visit a river or a beach. You could say it is one of my hobbies other then reading. I am amazed with the different shapes and sizes the stones come in, one of the nature's wonder that they are shaped the way they are. I gather stones whenever I visit outdoors, not just to be creative, but also because  I consider each of those stones as a memoir or a recollection of the journey I thoroughly enjoyed. Then I try and use these stones for getting a bit creative with stone painting. Don't worry if you find stones with little rough patches, as a little scrub with sand-paper may work on some stones for smoothening curves and edges.

How to do Rock Painting 

Once you have the perfect stone ready with you, all you need to do is come up with a design which would work out perfectly on the stone. Every stone that we select tells us what would they be designed or shaped into. Just a little imagination and you know what design and colour would go well with the shape of the stone.

One more tip about stone painting for beginners is to try to draw the design on a card paper. It is important to learn to draw the perfect shape before trying it on the stone. Draw the perfect shape on a paper sheet or a card paper and then colour it. So you know what you are getting into. Once the design is drawn and coloured on a paper, you can just copy the same on the stone. This way stone painting becomes much easier as you get a model ready to refer while finishing your art work.

When it comes to using colours on stones for stone painting, mostly all types of colours go well with them. You can easily use acrylic colours or even water colours for stone painting. If this is your first time to try stone painting, I suggest try using water colours. If the stone painting doesn't come out as you desire, you can simply wash the colours and start out again. This way children get to practice and get creative with stones  and always come up with easy rock painting ideas or designs. The stone painting activity is one of the most creative ideas for kids as they get to engage in a craft which involves colours one of the kid's favourite past time. Making simple stone painting designs can help kids be imaginative. A little help with basics and kids would themselves come with unique ideas of their own about what they should paint on the stone. Once a child gets his hands on a stone painting, he or she can try with acrylic colours. Once the child is happy with his creativity, then sealers can be used to keep his stone painting art last for longer time.

How to Make Ladybug Rock Painting

A ladybug is an easy rock painting design for kids. You can try doing it with water clours or acrylic colours as you wish. Once a child gets a general idea how to do it, he can try making it with different vibrant colours. A ladybug rock can be a perfect gift for special occasions, you can gift it to mom and dad who can use it as paper-weights for their offices or you can gift it to grand mom who can place it as a decorational piece in her living room. They can also be made for school projects or DIY projects for kids as cultivating hobby. You can also make ladybug rocks using various colours and decorate your garden by placing them side by side near pot and plants. So lets learn how to paint ladybug rock art step by step. 

Materials required for making ladybug rocks

Stone, preferably flat, small and circular - 1
Acrylic colours of your choice
Acrylic colour - black
Acrylic colour - white (optional)
Glue
Wiggly eyes - 2
Sketch pen - black colour
Sketch pens of your choice
Rough paper sheet - 1
Rough cloth

Method for making Ladybug Rocks

1

Try and use a flat and circular stone for making a ladybug rock. Once selected, first wash and dry out the rock thoroughly with a rough cloth. Set aside.

2

Draw a rough model of the ladybug on a rough paper sheet and colour it with the desired colours you wish to give by means of the sketch pens. Note that you would be using the same paper sheet as a model to paint the rock. So try and use the same colours on the paper as you would use on the rock. Here I have painted a rough sketch on the paper, which would act as my model for the session.

3

Paint the whole stone (top portion) with acrylic black colour. Allow it to dry thoroughly. You may need to add one or two coats of paint to get the proper smoothness and texture. It totally depends on the rock.

4

Now simply paint 3/4th portion of the rock with the other colour of your choice. You can select any colours other than red, such as yellow, blue, green or orange. Leave topmost portion of the rock black, assuming it is the head. There is no exact measurement of how much you should paint, just look at your model drawn on the paper and accordingly colour the rock.

5

Draw small circles with help of black sketch-pen on the body of the rock. Fill it with black colour. There is no exact numbers of how many circles you should draw, you can draw many circles if they are small dots, and if you wish to draw big circles then keep them very few. 

6

Once you are finished with the body, lets get the eyes in place. With the help of glue you can paste the wiggly eyes on the top of the head. If you do not find eyes, then no worries, just draw circles with white colour using a pointed brush.

Allow the colours and eyes to dry out. Your ladybug rock art is ready. To help the colour last longer, use a sealer. 

What is Palladium?

Sources: Google images

A steel white in colour and ductile in nature, palladium is a tarnish-resistant metal which has a melting point of 1554 degrees C. It was discovered by William Hyde Wollastan in the year 1803 in England. The metal was named after the asteroid 'Pallas' which had been discovered at the same time as the metal. Also it gets it's name from the Greek god 'Pallas' which means Goddess of Wisdom. Palladium is denoted with the symbol Pd and has the atomic number 46. Though Palladium highly resembles Platinum, it is least dense an has the lowest melting point. 

What is Palladium Used For

Palladium is largely used in the jewelry industry for making jewelry. It is also used in dentistry in small amounts for making of dental amalgams which help decrease corrosion. Palladium also is used in making surgical instruments, electrical contacts, blood sugar strips, spark plugs of aircraft, watches and in automobile catalytic converters. The soft metal Palladium also plays a key role in the technology used for fuel cells which is used to combine hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity, heat and water. Palladium costs USD907.80 Per Troy Ounce (approximately 31 gm).

Report Writing Tips for Students

Every student must know how to write a report skillfully. It is a must for each and every level of schooling and higher grades of education. Education boards introduce report writing in the school curriculum to test the communication skills of a child and thus eradicate rote learning. A adept report written by a student demonstrates his learning skills and command over the language. Students usually bound themselves with fear of report writing, but once they get the knack of it, then they may find report writing as easy as a simple narrative essay. So let us start learning with the basic principles of report writing and understand how to begin writing a good report.

Principles of Report Writing

One cannot say that there are any mentioned hard and fast rules for report writing. Hence students can expect lots of flexibility which would be accepted in terms of how one writes a report. A student can write a report as he wishes, but all he needs to do is include some important points which will ensure qualitative output when writing a report.

1. The first and the foremost point a student should remember is the opening statement which is nothing but brief summary of the whole report.

2. The events that are mentioned in the report should be arranged in a logical order rather than sequential order.

3. Try and be precise and use of simple language works well.

4. Repetitions of facts should be avoided. The facts mentioned should be brief yet comprehensive.

5. A good report includes condensed details, critical thinking and lucid adjectives.

Characteristics of a Good Report

A good report on whatever subject or level it may be, for school submissions or for work purposes should have these eight important characteristics which makes it a good. These eight characteristics of a good report are

1. Fresh Presentation - The report that you are planning to write on whichever subject and on whichever level should have a fresh appeal to it.

2. Outstanding Originality -  A good report is when the content of the report sound original and exceptionally good.

3. Appetizing Style - The style and manner in which the report is written should be impressive and engrossing. The content within the report should be equally interesting.

4. Lively and Lucid Language - Usage of vivid adjectives, brief yet comprehensive details, perceptive writing and energetic output are all important features of a good report.

5. Appealing to Human Interest - A report is considered to be good, if it is found interesting and appealing to a reader.

6. Factual Content - The content used within a report should do complete justice to the subject on which it is written. It should be factual and should remain pertaining to it.

7. Well Organized - The content of a good report has to be organized very well, preferably in a sensible order.

8. Grammatically Correct - Usage of proper grammar, punctuation and spellings should be given utmost importance while writing a report. A good report should be error free.

How to Begin a Report

Once a student understands the principles and characteristics of a good report, then all remains is the way one should begin a report. The beginning of a report is the most important part of a good report. This is where a reader or the examiner is going to sum up a judgement on how he would find the rest of the report and whether he should continue reading or put it aside. So let us learn how to begin a report.

Selection of the Topic

Before you begin to write a report, the most important thing one has to do is go through all the topics that are provided and select the one topic carefully for which which you have at least a bit of an understanding. Select a topic which you can associate yourself to or you have interest or experience to some extent. 

Jot Down Relevant Points

You have obviously selected a topic which you have some interest in or can associate yourself with. So get down to work by jotting out all the points or events that come to your head related to the topic on a rough paper. Remember you need to write down these points as these are flow of thoughts which come and pass by; and when you don't note them down they may just disappear when you really want them.

Arrange Points in Logical Order

Once you have made a rough note of all the points relevant to the subject, start putting them in an order to make sense. Roughly arrange these points in a manner on how and when you wish to use them. This way, once you start writing your report your focus is clear on how you are going to begin the report and how you will start including these points throughout the report. 

Make it Interesting

Make sure that you arrange and present these points in your report in such a manner that they make it an interesting read. As mentioned earlier the first paragraph of the report is the cream of the whole report, hence make sure that you write about the most important points or facts in the beginning. Rest of the points should be included in the second and the third paragraphs. But make sure that these points too should be important and relevant to the first point. 

Ask Yourself 

While writing a report, you should ask yourself few questions such as, 'what?', 'who?', 'why?', 'when?' 'where?' and 'how?'. Now see that you try and answer all these questions in your report. That is finally the whole purpose of writing a report where one has to provide details of a particular event or a fact. So these questions need to be answered. However it is not necessary that you may need to answer all the question in every report, finally it depends upon the topic. You need to analyse which questions relate to the topic you selected and act accordingly. 

Go With the Flow

Once everything is clear to you about how you are to start with the report writing format, you begin writing the first paragraph of the report. This is the only difficult part of the report writing. Once you get done with the first paragraph, you ease yourself and get into the flow of thoughts. Thus the next paragraphs set in, as it gets easier with the amount of rough homework that you carried out in the beginning of the report writing.

Don't Drag the Ending

The report which starts out interesting in the beginning may go a bit slow towards the end. This usually happens when we are not thoroughly prepared with the logical sequence of the points. Once you know how to start and how to end, there is nothing that would stop you from writing a good report. But always remember something that you started on an interesting note has to end in the similar manner. 

Expansion of Ideas - Speech is Silver But Silence is Gold

Man always has to carry the weightage of words he has spoken. Words once fall out of one's mouth can never be carried back. Such is the case of value of words and the value of silence. It is said that values of the words we speak is not more than silver, but value of silence we maintain is worth gold. When we start to speak or give our opinion on a particular subject, it is necessary that we have thought through before speaking. It is always important to know when to speak and how much to speak. Speaking unnecessarily on subjects we do not know much about, can land us in trouble. Hence, sometimes it is best to remain silent. The act of being silent is more powerful than  the act of speaking without knowledge.

When people have arguments where both the parties wish to prove their point, each one may start to speak irrelevant points just to portray himself wiser than the other or just to prove his point. But if one of them would just stay silent and wait for that perfect opportunity to prove his point, then maybe an argument would not get heated at all. Instead of blabbering insignificantly; which would not provide any solution one should use the power of silence to solve such situations. Thus Silence would prove out it's worth with the valuable role it would play in such situations and in our life.  

Tales of Tenali Raman - Tenali Raman and the Greedy Brahmins

Once when King Krishnadevaraya's mother got very ill, she spoke to the king about her wish of wanting to donate mangoes to the Brahmins. Not being a season of mangoes, the king found it difficult to fulfill her wish and before his guards could find any mangoes in the neighboring states,  his mother passed away. The king was heartbroken that he couldn't fulfill his mother's last wish. Time passed but king couldn't forget this episode at all.

So one day, the king called a Brahmin and asked him for an advice. He said, " O Brahmin! It was my mother's last wish to donate mangoes to the Brahmins. It was not a mangoes season so it was difficult enough and before we could find any, my mother passed away. I couldn't fulfill her last wish  and now I wonder whether my mother's soul will rest in peace?  O dear Brahmin! please help me to bring peace to my mother's soul."

This Brahmin was a greedy man and considered this as a golden opportunity to make some money for himself and the other Brahmins. He said to the king, " O my dear Lord! This is indeed a grave situation. If a person's last wish isn't fulfilled then the soul of this dead person never attains peace and wanders in the dark. Now that you haven't been able to fulfill her wish when she was alive, you will have to make sure that you fulfill it before its too late. But right now the only way to do this is not by donating real mangoes but only pure, golden mangoes to the Brahmins."

Being a religious and faithful man, King Krishnadevaraya readily agreed with the Brahmin's suggestion. He not only distributed golden mangoes among the Brahmins but also offered them other gifts. The Brahmins guaranteed the King that now his mother's soul would rest in peace. This made the king very happy and relieved.

Tenali Raman had witnessed the religious ceremony and was unhappy with the Brahmin's greed. The fact that angered him more was that the Brahmins had actually looted and deceived the king in the name of religion. So he decided to teach the Brahmins a lesson.

As soon as the Brahmins got ready to leave the king's court, Tenali Raman approached them and requested, " O dear Brahmins! I am so impressed with the rites that you performed to liberate the soul of the king's mother. It is my mother's death anniversary today and I request you to come visit my home and perform some religious rites for her. I have made arrangements for some gifts that I wish to give you after the rites are performed."


Hearing about the gifts the Brahmins readily agreed to perform the rites and happily went with Tenali Raman. They were aware of the fact that Tenali Raman always received gifts from the king for his witty answers and intelligence. So they knew that Tenali Raman would offer them expensive gifts. As soon as the Brahmins entered Tenali's house, Tenali locked the doors from inside and lighted a fire in the hearth inside the kitchen. He also put some long iron rods in the fire to heat.

The Brahmins were shocked by Tenali's act and wondered what was going on. They did not see any preparation for the religious rite that was to be performed. On the other hand Tenali was busy heating long iron rods and turning it properly from all sides to heat well.  After losing patience,  the Brahmins asked Tenali, "Dear Raman, can you tell us what is going on here? We don't see any signs of preparation for rites to perform. On the other hand you are busy heating iron rods. If you don't wish to perform any rite, please let us know so we could leave." On this Tenali replied, " O Brahmins! please have some patience. I am waiting for the rods to heat, once that is done you can start with the rituals."

Puzzled, the Brahmins started looking at one another. They started to get a bit nervous. One of them asked Tenali, " Tell us Dear Raman, what has iron rods got to do with the rites that are to be performed for your mother? This just looks like a complete waste of time and we have to return home."

Calmly, Tenali Raman replied, "The thing is my mother suffered from arthritis. She used red-hot irons to relieve pain in her joints. On her last day, she asked me to heat the iron rod, but before I could do so she passed away. Now I know that her soul hasn't attained peace because her last wish was not fulfilled. So I am going to put this red-hot irons on your bodies. This way I am sure her last wish will be fulfilled and finally her soul will rest in peace." The Brahmins looked shocked. Tenali continued, "Why not! If the king's mother can attain peace by you receiving golden mangoes then why can't my mother attain peace if I put red-hot iron on your bodies. If the king's sin can be recompensed by offering you golden mangoes then I am sure my sin can be recompensed by putting red-hot iron on your bodies."

The Brahmins looked aghast. Tenali allowed them some time to recover from their shock. Then he said, "O Great Brahmins! Please have patience. Now in few minutes I will bring red-hot iron to each one of you." And, saying so Tenali Raman went inside. Now the Brahmins had realized what message Tenali Raman wanted to convey them. They were ashamed of themselves. All the Brahmins went to Tenali Raman and asked for his forgiveness. The very next day they went to the king's court and returned the golden mangoes. Wondering why, the king asked for explanation. The Brahmins replied, " O Lord! You have been kind and generous to us. But we have taken undue advantage of the situation. We got greedy and we are ashamed of our behaviour." Now they told the king about their episode with Tenali Raman and how he helped them realize their mistake.

After listening to all this the king said, " O Brahmins! It is against my custom to take back the gifts that I give as charities. So there is no way that I will take back the golden mangoes. Please keep them with you." On this the Brahmins replied, " No way we could keep the mangoes and continue to be the sinners. Please O King! don't force us to keep the mangoes."

The king got very angry on listening all this and started losing his patience. Finally Tenali Raman came to the Brahmin's rescue. He said," O Lord! Please don't force the Brahmins to accept the mangoes against their wishes. Your stand is also right when you say that you can't take the gift back. But I would request you to send the golden mangoes directly to each Brahmin's house. This way the problem will be solved without any trouble." The King readily agreed and was pleased with Tenali Raman. He came forward and hugged him.

Expansion of Idea - An Idle Mind is a Devil's Workshop

When a man's mind is idle, he is meant to face problems! Once the idle mind of a man starts indulging in the activity of it's own, then the problems seem to arise. One problem thus gives rise to other problem and so on. It could easily be associated with a child too. When a child has nothing to do, he starts engaging himself in things that do not belong or relate to him in the first place. The curiosity of a child makes him do things which he himself does not understand. For example, say a child would want to play with any appliance available at home, say a mixer-grinder. He would be curious enough to know how a machine works and would go on to play with it's buttons. If a parent is around, he would stop the kid from doing so. But when the child is alone, this curiosity of an idle mind may create a mishap.

Thus a child should be kept engaged with activities which are engrossing and entertaining. For example, small children can always enjoy a puzzle or educational game. Adult children can engage themselves in hobby cultivating activities such as reading, coin collecting, drawing, singing, cooking etc. This helps a child to keep his mind at work rather than keeping it idle and inviting problems. Same is the case with grown-ups who should always keep their mind engaged in activities they enjoy rather than constant worrying and bickering. An idle mind is a host of unnecessary thoughts which may lead to dangerous actions from such man. It is said that some dangerous things that happen in the world are a result of an idle mind. Hence one can say that an idle mind is a devil's workshop. The best one can do is engage in fruitful activities and thus keep his brains active for the betterment of his own self and the society at large.